Self-performed basic chiropody usually takes place in a bath tub or a shower cabin. The dimensional configuration of shower cabins makes it often difficult to access one""s own feet for the purpose of cleaning them. The person attempting to do so has either to balance on one foot while lifting the other foot into reach of his/her hands or has to sit down in the shower cabin. Both tasks are difficult to accomplish. A number of inventions provide more or less suitable apparatus to assist a person cleaning his/her feet.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,867 discloses a u-shaped apparatus with a number of brushes mounted on the inside bottom and side walls. The invention is held in place solely by its weight. Lateral pressure against the wall mounted brushes may cause the apparatus to slide or even tilt. The shape of the u-shaped apparatus is sharp edged and clumsy and may not be feasible to be safely placed in a shower cabin.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,177,829; 5,678,259 and 5,724,695 disclose foot washing boxes with a number of compartment or features therein that are configured for separate foot cleaning operations. The box shapes are clumsy and do not take into account the limited space within a shower cabin.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,173,972; 5,813,078 and 5,729,858 disclose foot washer platforms with one or more cleaning features placed on it or integrated in it. The platform is held in place by a number of suction cups. Suction cups tend to slide on the wet and eventual soapy floor of a shower floor. The shape of the platform does not take into account the space limitations of a shower cabin floor.
The patents cited above are selected in order to give some examples of all the foot washing apparatus that have been invented. All inventions have dimensional configurations that does not take into account the limitation of the location where they intend to be placed. Hence, there exists a need for a simple foot washing apparatus that is ergonomically designed and configured to be placed in a secured position within limited available space like, for example, within a shower cabin.
A cleaning apparatus is configured to provide access for a soap, a pumice and a brush in an ergonomic fashion such that a person can perform basic chiropody in a stable and upright standing position. The cleaning apparatus, with its functional elements, is specifically configured in order to be placed and operated in a corner defined by two essentially perpendicular walls like, for example, of a bathroom or a shower cabin.
A human""s foot movements are naturally mainly performed in forward and backward direction and the correspondingly used joints, tendons and muscles of a human""s leg are particularly evolved to perform this movements more easily than lateral foot movements. Hence, when a person attempts to perform a foot cleaning operation, it naturally intends to rub the foot against an obstacle in forward and backward movements. The foot is thereby twisted around the ankle in order to bring the side of the foot, the heel and/or the toes into rubbing contact with the obstacle. The present invention takes advantage of these kinematical predispositions of the human leg and foot and provides the chiropody features in a compact and specifically configured shape and position to each other such that the tasks of soaping, scrubbing and/or brushing can be performed with greatest ease and safety. The soap and the pumice have a compact and smooth shape significantly rising above the main platform of the apparatus, since they have to access also the upper side of the foot. The brush on the other side, which mainly has to access the bottom of the foot extends across a relatively large area of the base in order to provide snuggly contact with the bottom of the foot while it is moved along the brush.
In the preferred embodiment, the soap and the pumice have identical and rotationally symmetric shape such that they can be easily and exchangeable fixated by snapping them into corresponding material separations of the base. They are positioned lateral of the brush such that the three chiropody features occupy a triangular area of the base. The configuration and positioning of the individual features relative to each other results in a compact triangular shape the whole apparatus, which occupies very limited space. The triangular arrangement of soaping device, scrubbing device and brushing device correspond to a triangular shape of the whole apparatus such that the apparatus may be placed in a stable fashion on the floor in the corner between two walls.
Basic chiropody has to be performed with wet feet, which may cause a slippery and unstable contact with the foot holding the persons weight while the other foot is moved more or less dynamically along the individual chiropody devices. The positioning of the apparatus in the corner of two walls allows a person to support itself in a stable fashion with its hands on the two walls while operating the apparatus. The single foot forms thereby with the two hands perpendicular pressing against each of the walls a stable force triangle.
The base itself is preferably of an elastic, rubber-like material that snuggly contacts the floor. The bottom of the base may feature additionally specifically formed cavities that operate as suction cups in order to increase the friction contact with the floor. Since sliding on wet and soapy surfaces as they exist especially in shower cabins cannot be fully prevented, the triangular shape of the base allows an easy repositioning and/or reorienting of the apparatus in cases where it is removed by the movements of the foot to be cleaned. The base is configured such that the foot carrying the person""s weight may be placed in contact with a contacting edge and thereby fixating the apparatus in its position.
All chiropody devices can be easily removed from the base for cleaning and replacement. The apparatus is simple to fabricate, easy and safe to use.
The soaping device may be a solid soap or a sponge like device on which a detergent is applied immediately prior to performing the chiropody. The sponge like device may also be impregnated with a detergent in a fashion that only a combination of water and mechanical contact excerpted by the foot to be cleaned releases the detergent to the surface of the sponge device.
The pumice device may have a homogeneous structure or may be made in combination with a different material or may be made completely of a different material configured to perform an abrasion of horny skin.
The brushing device may be made solely of brushed forming a planar surface and/or curved surface(s) configured to brush specific foot areas like, for example, the foot palm and/or the toe region. The brushing device may further include features configured for massaging the bottom of the foot rather than brushing it as are well known to those skilled in the art.